Silicon-oxygen product.



UNITED @TATE% PATENT @EEKCE.

FRANK J. TONE, 0F NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE CARBORUNDUIVI COMPANY, OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, A CORPORA'IIGN OF PENNSYLVANIA.

SILICON-OXYGEN rnonucr.

No Drawing.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May so, ion.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J. TONE, of Niagara Falls, Niagara county, New York, have invented a new and useful Silicon- Oxygen Product, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

I have discovered that when a' mixture of carbon and silica, preferably containing suflicient silica to produce silicon by reaction with the carbon, is heated in an electrical tion of silica as above described, has a spefurnace, a product is produced which is condensed from the gaseous products of combustion as they issue from the furnace, and possesses a novel composition and valuable characteristics. A typical analysis of this product is as follows:

Si 57 29 0 (combined with silicon) 34. 06 C 6. 57 Fe Q, .42) A1 0 1.26 CaO .40 100. 00

single path. There occurs at the point of exit of the gases from the charge material of the furnace a violent blowing of gases with the production of a miniature crater at or near the surface of the charge, the walls of which are composed largely of the said product in a vitreous condition.

The gases, as they emerge from the charge, I prefer to conduct into a closed chamber,-in which said product is deposited as a powder in astill greater amount by condensation against the walls of the chamber, which may be made of brick work, or other material.

In the practice of my invention, I prefer to use a furnace such as is shown and described in my Patent No. 745,122, dated November 24, 1903, but furnaces of other constructions may be used.

The charge mixture is constituted of silica and carbon, preferably in the proportions of 73 parts silica and 27 parts carbon.

The proportions of carbon and silica may, however, be Varied and I may use the proportions indicated by the equation or mixtures even lower in silica. It muchbetter, however, to employ mixtureshigher in silica as they yield the desired product in greater abundance.

The product thus produced by the reduccific gravity of 2.22 at 24 C. It is a non- -conductor of electricity. In its vitreous form, it is quite brittle, scratches glass and breaks with a vitreous fracture. Its color v varies from a light brown to a dark brown,

01' brownish green. The product is insoluble in all single commercial acids except hydrofluoric acid, and when treated with a mixture of hydrofluoric and sulfuric acid there is a loss in weight of 64.30 per cent, the weight becoming practically constant after three treatments. of silicon and oxygen, which are dissolved in approximately the proportion in which they exist in silicon dioxid. The residue-is a brownish powder, which, after being freed from aluminum and iron compounds, and other impurities, represents 27.05 per cent. of the original product, and has the charac teristics of amorphous silicon. It is not acted upon by any acid except to a slight degree by hydrofluoric acid, but is completely soluble in a mixture of hydrofluoric This loss is a loss acid and nitric acid. It has a specific gravity of 2.01 and oxidizes in the air at a red heat to SiO,.

The primary furnace product obtained by reduction of silica and deposited from the gases contains oxygen and silicon in approximately the roportions that are represented by the formula SiO, namely, in

about the proportions of 63 parts of silicon I claim:

1. The herein described new condensation product from the gases produced by electrically heating a mixture of carbon and silica, said product consisting substantially of silicon and oxygen, in the proportion of 63 parts silicon and 37 parts oxygen, and having a specific gravity of approximately 2.22.

2. The herein described new product condensed from the gases produced by electrically heating a mixture of carbon and silica, and consisting substantially of silicon and oxygen in the proportions of 63 parts silicon to 37 parts oxygen, in the formof a brown substance which, by treatment with hydrofluoric acid, yields a residue of amorphous silicon.

3. The within described product, being silicon monoxid SiO.

4. A physically homogeneous, light brown material composedessentially of,'silicon and oxygen in about the ratio of their atomic weights.

5. A material consisting of silicon and oxygen in which these elements are present in the ratio of one atom of silicon to one atom of oxygen.

6. A material containing silicon combined only with oxygen, the oxygen being less than is contained in siliconv dioxid.

7. A compound of silicon and oxygen having the approximate specific gravity 2.24 and containing less weight of oxygen than of silicon.

8. A compound of silicon and oxygen only, which can be further oxidized.

9. A compound of silicon and oxygen having approximately the same specific gravity as the amorphous dioxid but containing but half as much oxygen.

10. The within described material containing silicon monoxid characterized by the extreme fineness of particle produced by sublimation into an inert environment.

11...A compound of silicon and oxygen which, when pure, has a soft brown color.

12. A pulverulent compound containing monoxid of silicon and being characterized by a soft brown color.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

FRANK J. TONE.

Witnesses ASHMEAD G. RODGERS, CHARLES CHORMANN. 

